[Closed] A few days in the Highlands

So the missus goes to Turkey for a week and I'm left with the impending nightmare of fending for myself, tidying the flat and wallpapering the spare room. Cue Uncle Pedro (flyingfoxbikes) deciding we should do a road trip up north. What can I say? The top and tail of it is that we went on a 300 mile road trip, only to find that some of the best trails are right on our doorstep. Seriously. Whilst boasting truly epic views, the Cairngorms are either hike-a-bike or landrover tracks, same for round Loch Laggan.

Anyway, enough drivel. I have some routes to describe.

[b]Day 1: Laggan Wolftrax[/b]
Not too much to report. Managed to get accomodation at the [url= http://www.potterybunkhouse.co.uk/accommodation2.asp ]bunkhouse[/url] in Laggan village, despite the best efforts of the owner: "sorry guys, we don't take credit cards" as she's swiping a credit card through the credit card machine. Other notable gems were: "Don't expect any heating, cos I'm not putting it on for you" and "there won't be any hot water either". Magic. In the end she turned out to be an eccentric soul, but really quite friendly. The bunkhouse was nice and clean, and we even got the heating and hot water on thanks to the arrival of some wee neds on a drinking road trip of Scotland.
Laggan Wolftrax itself is a brilliant little trail centre. Really compact, but crams in absolutely everything you could ask for. We did the upper red, black, then lower red. Just one pic of me doing some seemingly tame section of the black (it was a lot less tame looking at it from the top) cos we were too busy either riding or being scared senseless by the craziness of the black route.

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Route is here anyway, although if you need a gps map to get round Laggan, you might want to reconsider being on a bike in the first place 😆
[url] http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/k-13VHbjSL8 [/url]

[b]Day 2: Loch Laggan Loop (or Ox's Death Ride, as it is now known)[/b]
GPS route: [url] http://www.sports-tracker.com/#/workout/unclepedro/cntc21dn0d87rld0 [/url]
Apparently this is a classic route, according to MBR. To be fair, there is a lot of really nice scenery, but when a classic route consists of A LOT of landrover tracks, some bogtrotting, a climb that would be difficult with clampons and rope, and then a bloody great river to ford on the only descent of the day, I wouldn't go as far as calling it a classic. One to avoid, maybe.

Start off at the gatehouse at the top of Loch Laggan:
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Do some forestry tracks for a while, then end up in a really rather spectacular glen:
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Skirt round the southern edge of Loch Pattack, crossing the most insane suspension bridge in the process:
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Then take the wrong turning and head for about a mile or so the wrong way down a track, whilst simultaneously taking photos that show the actual track you should be taking (it's the one that heads off up to the left) 😳
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Go back down the right track and instantly miss the river ford, and this time head about 3 miles down the wrong glen 😳 (It's okay apparently. This was the best singletrack of the day):
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The track ends at a ramshackle bothy, which is nice place to have sandwiches in, but not so nice to realise you are in fact lost:
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Next, take no photos for ages while you sulk your way up and over a mountain to get you into the glen you should be in and onto the path you should be on. Added bonus is that it has been raining so much that the "path" you're taking is now a streaming torrent which soaks your feet through to the bone. When you get to the correct path, admire the view down to the Loch, but make sure you give the guy who took you the wrong way a lot of grief:
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Climb what you think is the most unclimbable path you think you'll ever experience (wait for it...) then descend the rather boring landrover track to the bottom, fording 10 foot of 18" deep river half way down, just to break up the momentum. The view at the bottom was okay though:
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Cycle back up the side of the two lochs, down some forestry road, then pop out on the single most stunning residence I have ever seen in my life. Check out the size of the cars!
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Finally, drive to Aviemore and have burger and pints. Well recommended accomodation is the [url= http://www.pinebankchalets.co.uk/about ]Pine Bank Chalets[/url] complex, at the south end of Aviemore.

[b]Day 3: The MBR Cairngorms Death Loop[/b]
route: [url] http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/kfiyO0MHYEA [/url]

Another MBR "classic". The run out of Aviemore towards Nethy Bridge consists of roads and bike paths, which take a turn for the better as you get towards Loch Garten's Osprey Sanctuary:
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The Osprey sanctuary is rather good. £3 in, and there are lots of telescopes, binoculars, various video cameras and RSPB folk giving a running commentary on what's happening. We were there for about 30 minutes and saw the mum protecting the chicks from a maurauding female and dad buggering off in the middle of all this to go fishing. He returned with a nice fat trout though, so all was well:
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Then it was off and heading towards the ominous sounding Ryvoan Pass. Turns out that this is actually a really nice trek through pine (fir? larch?) woodland with the backdrop of the Cairngorms. Pics of the way up:
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And the top of the Ryvoan Pass, looking down:
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At the bottom, bear left and cross over the shallow ford:
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and wind your way through the numerous tracks until you find yourself on the east side of the road up to the ski centre. Turn left, or "up" as it became known:
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The path heads up over and crosses to the other side of the road, then turns sharply back on itself to start the relentless climb up to the Chalamain Gap. This is a series of photos that I think need no explanations:
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Then we get to the gap itself. I have never seen anything like it. And I never want to do anything like it again. Horrible, dangerous, and beautiful, in equal measures. And yes, that's me trying to ride up a bit of it 😆
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A bit further up 😯
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At the other side, it initially seemed like it might be worth it:
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Certainly when we got to the Lairig Ghru, it looked promising:
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But then we looked at our route to it:
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We pushed down it. Here's the view from the other end:
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And the goal of the entire ride, the Lairig Ghru:
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There are no more photos from Day 3 because the Lairig Ghru is simply one of the best singletrack descents in Scotland - in fact I seem to remember a company that deals in Alpine mountain biking holidays that uses a photo of the Lairig Ghru to entice you out to the Alps. Quite simply breathtaking. Needless to say, we arrived back in Aviemore breathless and in need of a pint.

[b]Day 4: Back on home turf[/b]
Route 1 - The North Third: [url] http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/oL41elaNDqs [/url]
We decided that as the weather had been uniformly gash for the previous 3 days that we'd postpone the Bealach na Ba for better weather and head back over to Stirling to try a little ride known as The North Third. All I can say is "wow!" Utterly phenomenal, brutal climbing and super technical descents as hard as I've ver encountered. I'll just stick the photos in and let you decide for yourself.
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Route 2: [url] http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/qSFPFdNUfzk [/url]
From there, we decided to get one last ride in, consisting of a climb of the mighty Dumyat hill in the Ochils range, then belting back to Bridge of Allan at the bottom as fast as possible. The initial climb from Bridge of Allan brings you out at a reservoir, looking up at the first part of the Dumyat climb:
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That's not the whole hill, by the way. Not by a long shot. The following are a selection of the path up and views along the way:
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And from the very top looking back down:
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We caught our breath at the top, and then it was seats down and minds blanked of fear. The ride down from Dumyat to Bridge of Allan is truly epic. I can generally manage about 80% of it no probs, although there will always be room to improve the speed, and the rest I find I can do a bit more each time, and it's the challenge of one day dominating the whole thing that, amongst other things, keeps me coming back.

What more can I say? A truly amazing week of riding yet not necessarily always with the best riding, if that makes sense. I've learned a lot about myself as a MTBer, specifically about how much I can actually do if I get over the fear. I've done more exercise than I've ever done in a 4 day period. And I've had a blast. Hope you've enjoyed reading and the photos, and maybe it's inspired some of you to head up this way. You won't regret it (as long as you stick to the trails around Stirling 😆 )

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